The field of the invention is package and article carriers and the invention is particularly concerned with vehicle attached outboard motor mounts.
The state of the art of vehicle attached outboard motor mounts may be ascertained by reference to U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,439,707; 2,592,050; 2,762,542; 4,136,806; and 4,381,069, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
There is a long-felt need for vehicle attached outboard motor mounts for use with vans, recreational vehicles, motor homes, travel trailers, automobiles, pick-ups and other trucks. Because they are less expensive to purchase and more economical to operate, there is a continuing trend toward the use of smaller car-top boats and smaller boat motors for fishing and water recreation, as opposed to larger boats and motors which are normally carried on a trailer.
Aside from safety factors involved with storing an outboard motor within a vehicle, the outboard motor takes up valuable passenger space and may be viewed as an inconvenience. However, by placing the motor to the outside of the vehicle for transit, interior space is conserved, thus utilizing considerably more space for passengers and cargo.
This is very important since the vehicles also seem to be getting smaller, thereby making interior passenger and cargo space extremely valuable, as well as limited.
Recreation vehicles currently in use normally have externally mounted spare tires and bumpers which are square or rectangular in cross-section. Such external spare tire carriers and covers are illustrated in the J. C. Whitney & Company catalog, No. 445H, at pages 22, 48, 49, 60, 61, and 276, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
None of the prior art outboard motor mounts, as shown in the above cited U.S. patents, are designed to cooperate with externally mounted spare tires in bumpers having a rectangular cross-section.